Beef O' Brady's credit card processing system hacked (how much, hotels)

[Sunshinecc]

Originally Posted by North_Pinellas_Guy

Seems to be happening everywhere.

We always keep our credit locked, as prevention and we also set up automatic instant credit card alerts which lets us know every time there is a charge.

NEVER use debit cards anywhere.

When buying gas, purchase gas cards at any grocery store and then use them instead of your credit card. Gas stations are big targets for skimmers, so doing it this way avoids using your own credit card at the pump.

Originally Posted by BucFan

Certain areas I tend to use cash more - specifically restaurants where the card leaves my person and is taken to a cash register where I don't know who/what is being copied down, including the CIS information might be written down for later use.

both excellent posts/recommendations

Just a reminder though, although you are protected much better with using a credit card vs. a debit card, there is still the concern of your personal information (note, non-credit card data) being compromised and used to create accounts and new credit cards which you would not know about unless you continuously monitor your credit report and even then, it's not foolproof.

One other thing is, shred EVERYTHING, not just items that have your credit card/bank/SS#. Shred items that have your DOB, your email, any website you visit that might have your user name visible, etc.. False accounts and identities are being created with the use of less and less information.

[Spring Hillian]

We need a list of companies NOT hacked.

[Sunshinecc]

White House Calls Cyberattacks Grave National Security Danger - Washington Wire - WSJ

I'd be more hopeful if there was actually a proposed solution.

[bentlebee]

Checking daily or every other day may protect you the best. All these companies stating they will check your credit and report to you right away and protect you have CEo's who got hacked or ID theft took place.

They charge you a lot while you can do a lot yourself by checking all the time. These companies don't give back the money if your ID get stolen but will point you in the right direction while you are still stuck with the work yourself.

Better save than sorry and don't use debit cards and check where your credit card goes while paying and I hope restaurants will change the way they handle payments and I rather pay at a cashier at every restaurant so I can keep my eye on my card.

My card was compromised many times now but every time I was so fast with discovering or my bank that is hated by many, informed me right away so I believe they do a good job protecting me.

On Sunday I noticed another pending charge at Zappos and one call closed my card and 2 days later I had a new card and the pending charge was never charged to my account.

IMO it is both the clients and the banks and the store responsibility to do everything to keep a person safe.

If a person doesn't check online and neither their statements on paper than in the time we live in that means you are risking a lot.

The same counts for theft from cars and in my community it has happened a lot and all of them were for cars that were unlocked...where I'm from decades ago insurance companies didn't pay unless the car was broken open and proof of that in the form of a police report and certain items were later not even covered if left in a car. For example car radios without the front being able to taken off were not covered and neither cell phones, cameras, jewelry and other expensive items left in sight. People can do a lot to protect them and fraud was so enormous that ins. Companies had to change the rules to protect others from having to pay for the stupid ones.

[spbbound]

Originally Posted by Sunshinecc

White House Calls Cyberattacks Grave National Security Danger - Washington Wire - WSJ

I'd be more hopeful if there was actually a proposed solution.

The solution is moving to a one time use number product. Your credit card displays a new number once per minute so stealing the info is useless. Vendors who need to charge you on an ongoing basis get a token instead of a real credit card number, one that you can revoke when you no longer want them to be able to charge you. It would cost the card issuers a few dollars per card instead of a few cents, but that's not a big deal.

Why do we not have this? Well that's because credit card companies and merchant account providers profit off of fraud, so they don't want to see it eliminated. Chargebacks, unauthorized transactions the cardholder misses, merchants who have to pay fees even after a chargeback, etc. all make them a huge amount of pure profit since they aren't the ones that lost money or merchandise, so they have no desire to stop fraud.

[hokiepoke]

Originally Posted by Spring Hillian

We need a list of companies NOT hacked.

They're all hacked, they just don't know it yet.

[bentlebee]

I don't believe a list will help since you have to consider that every time you use a card you may be at risk but if you have a good bank and check on a regular base you shouldn't be too worried.

Paying cash is an option but you are more at risk to get robbed and if more people are stating they will walk around with cash the bad people will consider robbing at gun point and stores will also be at a higher risk for armed robberies.

I may be wrong but I believe Paypal is safe at least for now and I'm using that more often due to not having to give out my credit card number over and over.

[gulfporter]

Originally Posted by BucFan

Certain areas I tend to use cash more - specifically restaurants where the card leaves my person and is taken to a cash register where I don't know who/what is being copied down, including the CIS information might be written down for later use.

Not using credit cards in today's society and carrying large amounts of cash in today's society is unrealistic.

Check your card....if it's got the new chip embedded technology, then it won't be an issue (mag strips are the problem). If you don't have a chip technology in your card, ask your bank for a re-issue. The chip cards have been used in Europe for years and work quite well for security.

[spbbound]

Originally Posted by gulfporter

Check your card....if it's got the new chip embedded technology, then it won't be an issue (mag strips are the problem). If you don't have a chip technology in your card, ask your bank for a re-issue. The chip cards have been used in Europe for years and work quite well for security.

Chip cards won't help until enough card readers in this country is replaced with chip & pin equipment that people demand chip-only cards. Until that happens, the cards will keep having mag stripes and the data will keep getting stolen by skimmers.

[bentlebee]

Anything now deemed to be safe is tomorrow history and deemed unsafe.